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You can’t fix silly, not even on NetFlix

I thought I’d sworn off anything and everything that boasted of Adam Devine in a major role, what after that major turkey he’d turned in with Zac Efron as brothers out of control in the is-that-really-a-comedy Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates. I know, my fault for watching that on Blu-Ray.

But then I had some NetFlix time while my dear wife Karen was on her Florida getaway with Georgia to visit Chris, and the New Release row boasted of the service’s very-own film When We First Met.

What the heck.

So the actor I used to really like in the TV sitcom Modern Family plays a dorky guy looking for love, what else. We see him as Noah, in a frat-house-like costume party running into a woman named Avery. Her League of Their Own character (yes, he thinks she is, by the way) seems to go for his piano-playing when he scoots her out of their to the bar where he works as a piano man. The night seems to be going very well. But then he gets friend-zoned, and we see him broken-hearted as she’s about to marry another guy.

One cheap movie trick leads to another as this become, first, a Time Travel movie as Noah discovers he can go back to that first night by visiting a special photo booth. It’s like Groundhog Day, but he’s doing it on purpose, trying to get the story to end just the way he envisions.

But it’s a buddy movie, too, as he and Avery become pals in some of these versions, and even the guy he’s fighting for her affections turns out OK.

And an aw-shucks love story as her best friend, Carrie, continually saves Noah’s bacon and at last catches his eye.

The photo booth is timeless, sure. (From IMDb.com)

Before I knew it, the whole dang 97 minutes had ended, and director Ari Sandel and writer John Whittington’s NetFlix flick had given Devine a vehicle that let him not be truly despicable. The gang was way easier to stomach than that piece of junk a couple of years prior.

I thought “When We First Met” was cute and your review is spot on. I do love time travel films, so on Netflix I also recently watched the 20 episode “Nine: Nine Time Travels,” a Korean soap opera with plenty of twists and very appealing characters. I bought into the absurd premise, really liked it and I recommend it. Hey, the hero is a journalist!

I sell collectibles and art online and often find the things I've found have hilarious and at times, dark stories to tell. It's thrilling for me to be creatively random, so always expect the unexpected in the things I share with you.